“That’s where you are wrong.” And she had no satisfaction in that truth. “I told my father that Perry was just a friend, but he never believed me. He’s always been more interested in his own interpretations and those of the media than anything I might have to say.”
“I don’t think that’s true, but he is stubborn.”
“So are you, in the way you defend him.”
“Would you respect me if I had no loyalty for my friends?”
“Is my father your friend?”
“Yes.” The single word wouldn’t let her doubt his sincerity.
She used to think Vik was her friend, too.
Then things changed.
Now, she was facing the reality that it wasn’t just that her father wanted her to marry Vik, but so did the man himself. Both had their reasons, but while different those reasons all centered around AIH, not Maddie.
She wasn’t sure where, if anywhere at all, she came into the picture, other than as a minor piece on the chessboard. She certainly didn’t feel like the queen.
“I’LL BE BACK at three to take you to the lawyer’s office,” Vik informed Maddie as she unlocked her door and stepped inside.
“Are you sure that’s not a conflict of interest?”
“Would you rather go alone?” he asked, a mocking twist on the masculine lips she’d spent far too much time studying as a teenager.
“No.” Especially not after witnessing the media circus outside her building.
The paparazzi had always found her interesting, but it had never been like this.
And it was only getting worse as the morning wore on.
She’d managed to sneak out of the back entrance earlier, but the story and her location had spread in just that amount of time. There were almost as many media leeches haunting the other entrances to the building as in front now.
Even the parking garage hadn’t been free of their presence.
She’d expected Vik to have his driver drop her off, but she could only be grateful he had insisted on getting out of the car and escorting her all the way to her apartment door.
He’d kept his body positioned protectively between her and the reporters stalking her. Vik was also very good at remaining silent no matter what was thrown at them and Maddie found it easier not to react with him as a buffer.
“Security will have the parking garage cleared,” Vik said after a short text conversation on the elevator.
“Thank you.”
They stepped off the elevator into a thankfully empty hallway.
Vik looked both ways before leading her toward her door anyway. “You need a security detail.”
She shrugged, not wanting to get in to this argument right now, and not at all sure she would win it.
“When was the last time you had this lock changed?” he asked as she opened the door.
She looked up at him, wishing it didn’t feel like all the oxygen got sucked out of the air every time she did that. “Why would I have it changed?”
“At least tell me you had new locks installed when you moved in.”
“Why would I?” she asked again. “I’m sure the building management took care of it when the previous tenants moved out.”
His expression said he didn’t share her confidence. “You don’t own the apartment?”
“No.” She’d always planned to move into the mansion once she’d turned it into a school after she got control of her Madison Trust inheritance.
“Who has a key to this door, besides any previous tenant?” he asked with sarcastic emphasis on his last words.
Maddie leaned against the doorjamb when he showed no signs of following her inside. “Romi.” She grimaced. “Perry, but he’s not going to show his face.”
Vik just shook his head before pulling his phone out and making a call. “Get the building access cards affiliated with Madison Archer’s apartment deactivated and new cards issued for her, Ramona Grayson and myself.”
He listened in silence for a moment. “Yes, have Ms. Grayson’s delivered to her and the others to my office. I will pass Miss Archer’s on when I see her later this afternoon. I want a security system installed, along with high-grade safety locks while we are gone.”
The day before, Vik’s high-handedness would have made Maddie livid. Today? It just felt like someone was watching out for her.
“You know, for a corporate shark, you’re pretty good at this white-knight stuff,” she observed as he tucked his phone away.
“I make a good ally.”
“But a terrifying enemy, I bet.”
“You’ll never have to find out.”
“Even if I refuse my father’s ultimatum?” She didn’t bother to point out that if she did agree, she could still choose to marry a different man.
They both knew how unlikely that was.
Her youthful affections notwithstanding, she wasn’t about to marry a stranger or a man who had multiple divorces under his belt.
Vik reached out and cupped her nape, stepping forward until mere centimeters separated their bodies, the heat from his surrounding her in a strangely protective cocoon. He didn’t say anything, just caught her gaze, his dark eyes compelling her to some sort of belief.
Her breath escaped in a whoosh, unexpected and instant physical reaction crackling along her nerve endings while her heart started a precipitando. “Viktor?”
“You will never be my enemy, Madison.”
“You’re so confident I’ll do what you want?”
“I’m confident in you, there’s a difference.”
There so was. He couldn’t have said anything more guaranteed to get to her. People who believed in Maddie were a premium in her life. And less by one after this morning.
Dark espresso eyes continued to trap her even more effectively than his hand on her neck. “Trust me.”
“Do I have a choice?” she asked with an attempt at sarcasm.
“No.” His reply held no responding humor. Tilting his head, he stopped only when their lips almost touched. “You don’t, and do you know why?”
“Tell me,” she said in a voice that barely registered above a whisper.
“You already do.” Then his mouth pressed against hers and the drumbeat in her chest went to the faster paced stretto, while electric pleasure sparked from his lips to hers.
A sensation she’d only known once before despite the fact she’d tried kissing other men. Six years ago when she’d thought the best way to celebrate becoming an adult would be to tell the man she’d been infatuated with for years that she loved him.
Even the memory of that old humiliation could not diminish the feelings of ecstasy washing over her from this elemental connection.
The kiss didn’t last long, just a matter of seconds, but it could have been hours for the impact it had on her. When Vik pulled away and stepped back, Maddie had to stop herself from following him.
“Three o’clock. Turn your phone ringer off. I’ll text.”
She